Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi has admitted that security lapses set the stage for the recent tragic attack which left nearly 20 people, including foreign nationals, dead at the national museum in the African state.
According to an interview with the French weekly Paris Match published Saturday, Essebsi said the relevant authorities had failed to deploy enough guards and troops to protect the museum and the nearby parliament.
“There were failures” as “the police and intelligence were not systematic enough to ensure the safety of the museum,” said the Tunisian leader, adding, however, that security forces had moved quickly and acted properly to prevent massive losses of life.
Tunisian security guards “responded very effectively to quickly put an end to the attack at the Bardo, certainly preventing dozens more deaths if the terrorists had been able to set off” their explosive belts, Essebsi stated.
Earlier on Friday, a senior Tunisian politician said the guards supposed to be protecting the sites were having coffee at the time of the militant assault.
“I found out there were only four policemen on security duty around the parliament (compound), two of whom were at the cafe. The third was having a snack and the fourth hadn’t turned up,” media outlets quoted deputy speaker Abdelfattah Mourou as saying.
On March 18, a group of gunmen attacked the National Bardo Museum, located in the capital, Tunis, near the parliament building, killing 21 people, including 17 foreigners.
According to the Tunisian premier, 22 tourists and two Tunisians were also wounded in the attack.
Two of the attackers were reportedly killed. Reports suggest that two or three gunmen are still at large as security forced have launched a manhunt for the suspects.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack, which lasted for about four hours.
On Saturday, Tunisia’s Interior Ministry released security camera footage of the gunmen walking through the Bardo museum during the attack. The one-minute video shows the two men walking through the museum, carrying assault rifles and bags.
The people of Tunisia, the birthplace of pro-democracy protests across North Africa and the Middle East, revolted against the Western-backed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Despite the political stability since then, insurgency and terrorists still threaten the North African country.
